Having a cable issue this week…wanted your input. We added a built-in media cabinet next to our fireplace. I had them run a conduit from behind the TV to the media cabinet.
One of the issues arising…when you open the bottom drawer…it tugs/pulls on the wires….so that when you open the shelf to say change games on the Switch…even though I have slack….the slack is now getting caught on the hinges of the drawer. Each time the drawer closes, the wires shift slightly and everything gets pulled back.
The only I have in my head…is to remove these 15 feet wires and get shorter ones, but potentially the same will still happen, because I need some excess to be able to pull the shelf out and push it back in.
Is it a solid bit of wood above? Fix the right amount of slack to it above the boxes to allow them enough space to pull the drawer out without sliding back?
Perhaps in a similar way to @Ethan9482, you know it’s gotta go between slack and stretched to work right, you’ve somewhat defined how far it’s allowed to stretch and slack, now you just need to define exactly where it’s allowed to stretch and slack.
If you could tack the cable to move mostly along the only center portion of the shelf (by “center” I mean centered with respect to the left-right sides of the shelf), could you eliminate that they catch on the rails?
Yep I was meaning track it to the bit above but that was assuming it was solid and fixed position. On the basis that it’s a drawer, that won’t work as the same issue would arise if you took that drawer out.
However as DrJJW suggested the principle is fix enough slack and you could do that on the main shelf?
Or even the back of the unit. Basically just something that isn’t moving.
I removed everything from the middle shelf, moved my 4k player upstairs, moved the Nintendo Switch and the Apple TV to the cabinet on the right. Swapped out the HDMI wires for shorter wires.
The quad power outlet in the wall is mostly behind the bottom drawer, there’s a slight space for outlets. I ended up getting a small power strip (siting inside the right cabinet) and feeding it through so I can plug it in.
Temp solution for now as I battle the irritations of what my contractor / designer suggested versus what I was thinking because I am techie.
I know someone will ask me what is that wire dangling in the back…it’s plugged into the quad outlet below…in the top drawer is a built-in power strip. The plan for that top drawer is to be the charging station for MacBooks, iPads, iPhones. Also with it being in drawer helps the idea of ‘device out of sight, device out of mind’
For those inquiring about the fireplace…yes the TV is up there, didn’t have much of a choice for location for the size. But also note, it’s not wood burning. It’s a gas fireplace with that metal grate and faux wood look.
I mounted it horizontally on its side – with the narrowest side to top and bottom – so that it would bend left & right as you looked at the drawer. My drawer had a vertical plank at the back (like a regular drawer) so the cables entered the snake at the back wall of the cabinet and then entered the drawer through a drilled hole in the rear plank. The snake would straighten or fold up behind the drawer as you pulled it in and out.
Difficult to describe, but I hope you understand. I got the idea from the cable management arms in server racks where they face a similar challenge when sliding out the servers.
